Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, May
4 -- To boost its declining production,
Evita
Legowo, director general of oil and gas at the energy
ministry, said, "The areas are promising, but we have to wait for the
investors to do the exploration so we know the reserves."
The new awards
include: South Block "A", North Sumatra (PT Renco,
PT Prosys); East Pamai,
onshore Central Sumatra (PT Nana Yamano); West Belida onshore
The awards also
include: Southeast Madura (PT Bama
Bumi Santosa, PT Toba); Pasir, onshore East
Kalimantan (PT Archipelago); S. Sesulu, offshore East
Kalimantan (Hess); Kofiau, offshore West Papua (Biak Petroleum, Niko Resources);
offshore West Papua (Marathon, Komodo Energy, Kumawa
Energy); Cendrawasih, offshore West Papua (Esso, ExxonMobil, and Biak Petroleum); Northern Papua, onshore and offshore North
Papua (Sarmi Papua,
Legowo
announced plans to offer 24 oil and gas blocks in May.
Most will be offshore blocks in the eastern part of
Meanwhile, Legowo said the Indonesian government believes it could
find more oil and gas reserves based on historical data that Royal Dutch Shell
PLC will return to
She said the
government proposed that Stanvac and Caltex, now ExxonMobil Corp. and
Chevron Corp., respectively, return their exploration documents from before
1965. Legowo said such historical documentation was
expected to provide more information about oil and gas potential in the
country. "It is possible that, based on the data, we will find new oil and
gas blocks," she said.
Although the
government has conducted its own seismic surveys, Legowo
said the possibility exists that something may have been overlooked.
"Take the
example of Cepu block. PT Humpuss
had done exploration in the area, but it could not find big oil reserves. But ExxonMobil later on found a big reserve in the block,"
she said.
Last year